If the London Pension Funds Authority’s submission is anything to go by, the past 18 months must have been frantic. The LPFA is one of the largest providers of local government pensions in the UK and provides defined benefit and final salary funds for employees of over 240 organisations in the non-profit sector. In addition, it provides administration services for seven other authorities. Established in 1989, the authority is responsible to the Mayor of London and accountable to Parliament and the Greater London Authority.

The authority lists several developments it has undertaken recently. First, it cites a major restructuring of the fund’s assets and the investment management arrangements. It has also entered into a partnership arrangement with various London boroughs and is investing further in staff training and new technology. As part of the latter, the authority provides secure access via the internet for ‘what-if’ calculations and for details regarding payslips and P60s.

The authority is keen to promote its credentials as investing heavily in its personnel. It says it has received numerous awards for the quality of the training it gives to its staff and now trains a wide range of London borough staff on its open courses and is introducing a programme for five locally recruited school leavers.

In the submission, the authority splits what it felt its attributes are into three categories which include its open approach to both communication and accountability, its cutting edge technology and its continual adaptation of its administrative approach.

Referring to the first of these, the authority says it is committed to improving communication with scheme members and to producing and distributing high quality material including magazines, newsletters, annual fund member reports and charters for pensioners and contributors. It also makes ad hoc presentations to members, holds annual forums for fund members and employers and has a call centre and a comprehensive website. The authority’s fund member panel reviews and comments on standards, areas for improvement and future developments.

Sixteen volunteers representing every segment of the membership make up the panel which meets twice a year.

Web-based access to member’s data and electronic workflow are two attributes the fund highlights when talking about its IT. The former is a system, developed in partnership with the fund’s software provider, enabling members to access their individual records via the web. The facility comes under the fund’s web site which also includes a scheme guide, a guide for new pensioners, an employer’s guide that members are able to download as well as a complete contacts listing for all sections and members of staff.

The website provides members with secure access to their own pension records. Members are allocated a personal identification number upon request which is used along with their surname and National Insurance numbers as a means of guaranteeing security.

Dependent upon their status, members are offered different menus including basic data, address details, service details, payslip history, P60s and retirement estimate calculations. The system enables members to check data held and increases the level of electronic communication. Members, for example, can do straightforward administrative tasks such as notify the fund about a change of address without having to confirm it in writing.

With regards the second attribute, the fund says it has been developing its electronic workflow system continuously for the past 10 years. The latest version was rewritten and completed in 1999 and has been under constant development since. According to the authority, the system is designed to monitor and record every item of work received and to ensure that specific deadlines are met. Every member in the administration department starts the day with a list of cases that need to be completed.

They can also view cases due for completion in the future, cases on hold that are approaching a ‘chase date’ and cases for which they have set their own deadline within the pre-set completion times. Management reports show performance statistics schemes, employers, teams and individual staff members, and the age profiles of cases on hold can also be produced to identify ‘bottlenecks’ in information flows.

The fund says that one of the recent developments in the system include a client monitoring screen, enabling an authorised employer or agency liaison staff to view cases that are either in progress or on hold. A ‘help desk’ screen which displays information enabling the call centre to answer queries more effectively is listed as another recent development.

A random survey facility that earmarks every 10th completed case to receive a customer satisfaction questionnaire is another. The fund has introduced a system that can accept a file from a payroll system and either create a case for it or allocate it to an existing one automatically. Finally the fund says that the next phase of development will include web access for members allowing them to ‘chase their case’ as it moves through the workflow system.

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